Google

Google's next flagship phone will have a built-in thermometer if a leaked video is anything to go by. Right now, nobody really knows why. The leaked video appeared on the 91mobiles site and appears to show the thermometer sensor placed just below ... the camera flash. It comes from Kuba Wojciechowski, a Twitter user who regularly shares leaked images of upcoming devices and describes himself as "a slight nuisance to tech companies." (Source: 91mobiles.com ) Google hasn't commented on the legitimacy of the video. However, 91mobiles says Google forced it to take down the video from YouTube by ... (view more)

Google is set to release its first foldable smartphone dubbed the "Pixel Fold" scheduled for May 10th. According to reports, Google has been working on a foldable phone for years. The Pixel Fold is expected to take the form of a book-style foldable ... with two screens, resembling the squarish shape of Oppo's foldable phone, the Find N. Pixel Fold: Camera According to 9to5Google, the Pixel Fold will have two front-facing 8-megapixel lenses, one presumably on the cover and one for the interiors, as well as a 12-megapixel rear camera. The main sensor is expected to be a step down from the Pixel 6 ... (view more)

Google says it is set to integrate new conversational AI features into its search engine. The move comes as advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology could enhance the capabilities of Google's search engine significantly. Google CEO Sundar ... Pichai has confirmed that users would be able to ask questions to Google and engage with large language models (LLMs) in the context of search. (Source: cnet.com ) Bringing AI chat to Google Search would make the technology accessible to a wider audience, taking it from the realm of experimental project to everyday tool used to find information. ... (view more)

Google has ditched a feature that could automatically navigate websites and complete forms. The biggest problems with "Duplex on the Web" were that hardly anyone knew about it or needed it. The feature launched in 2019 and was all about automating ... common sequences of actions on a website. The idea was to remove the need for the user to repeatedly click "next" buttons and confirm choices. Among the examples Google gave were ordering food on a restaurant site, buying tickets on a movie theatre website, and checking out of an online store. Google Assistant Control The feature worked with the ... (view more)

Google has revamped the look of Gmail, favoring people who use its other communication tools. The new look is not a complete overhaul but rather the type of change where users notice something is different, even if they can't immediately put their ... finger on what's changed. Users have a couple of options if they want to undo the changes. Gmail has two new main features. The first is a subtle color change, with the menu bar down the left column and the search bar at the top both now having pale blue backgrounds, visually breaking up the page. The second change is to the left-hand menu itself. ... (view more)

The makers of an app that can alert parents when a diabetic child is at risk say Google's rules are making it harder to use the app. Play Store rules designed to stop malware mean the app can't send text messages directly. The app is called CamAps ... FX and works with medical devices to operate an "artificial pancreas" for type-1 diabetes, which is a hereditary condition. It connects to a glucose monitor and an insulin pump, constantly monitoring glucose levels and then delivering insulin as necessary. (Source: camdiab.com ) The BBC reports that while it's suitable for adults, the app is ... (view more)

Google has fixed an unusual bug that mistakenly implied trusted contacts might be spammers. It asked users to make a decision about future filtering but took no notice of the reply. The good news is that the fix removes the unwanted messages and the ... filtering now appears to be working as intended. The bug involves the way Google will occasionally highlight a message sender as a potential source of unwanted emails. Users can then click one button to block all future messages from the sender. Once the bug took effect, many more users than usual started seeing the message, which read: "Do ... (view more)

Consumer groups claim Google acts unfairly in getting permission to use personal data. They say the sign-up process makes it far more time-consuming to exercise the right to limit data use. The complaints come from consumer groups in six European ... countries who have complained to national data regulators while warning they may also launch a civil court case. The European setting is key as data laws there say companies that rely on consent to make data handling lawful must make sure the decision to give consent is based on having a meaningful choice. Businesses aren't supposed to make both ... (view more)

Google has added an offline mode for Gmail. It lets users read, reply and even search through Gmail messages without being online. The mode will be familiar to users of a certain age, though it's mainly aimed at people in places where Internet ... connections are unreliable such as in some remote areas or developing nations. Though the offline mode might seem like wizardry, it's an extremely simple setup with some clear limitations. It uses some of the user's hard drive to store copies of messages that are normally only kept on Google's servers. The mode only works for users running the Chrome ... (view more)

Google says its messaging service Hangouts will close by November. Users who want to download past conversations may need to act sooner than that. Google Hangouts launched in 2013 and was designed to be a simple form of instant messaging that worked ... regardless of what operating system or platform the users were on. That simplicity was somewhat undermined by Google's chopping and changing as it developed various services. (Source: arstechnica.com ) Google originally had two messaging tools: Messenger as part of the ill-fated and Google+ Messenger social network, and Talk. It then merged ... (view more)